Back to photos of the RACC Undergraduate Interns
I'm Meg Anderson and I'm a rising Junior at Middlebury College. I am a biology major with a psychology minor. This summer I am working at Middlebury in Sallie Sheldon's macroinvertebrate lab. Along with looking at macroinvertebrates, I am conducting a separate study on the effect of substrate type on periphyton species composition and abundance. This is my first time working on a large research project and I am really enjoying the experience!
My name is Sam Beguin and I am a rising senior at Middlebury College majoring in Biology and Environmental Studies. This summer, I have had the opportunity to work in the Post-Irene Stream Macroinvertebrate Lab at Middlebury. My research has focused on assessing the response and recovery of stream macroinvertebrate assemblages to Tropical Storm Irene. More specifically, we have collected macroinvertebrate data along elevation gradients for six Vermont rivers in order to profile the river continuum of biological and physical characteristics for each stream and better understand the influence of watershed land use on recovery from disturbance.
My name is Liz Bennett and I am a junior in the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources. I am an Environmental Sciences major and Chemistry minor. I work in the Water Quality Laboratory at Saint Michael’s College examining total suspended solids (TSS) in the streams of the Winooski and Missisquoi watersheds. As an independent research project, I am working with fellow water quality intern, Courtney Pinto, to test the variation in TSS among urban and agricultural streams at baseline levels and after storm events.
I’m Patrick Bousquet, a senior biology major at Saint Michael’s College. This summer I am working with Professor McCabe in his lotic macroinvertebrates lab at Saint Michael’s College. My research focuses on altering the stream flow using wooden rigs that open or close in an attempt to emulate channelization. Outside of research, I enjoy hiking, walks on the beach, music, spending time with family and friends, and pondering the meaning of life. After graduation, I am pursuing a graduate program in aquatic or marine biology.
My name is Andrea Brendalen and I will be a senior in the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources. My major is Environmental Science with a focus is agriculture and the environment. For my internship I am working at UVM in both the soils lab and a chemicals lab for water testing. My project is to characterize the movement of phosphorous in ground water from agricultural fields and seeing if it is a factor in phosphorous pollution in Lake Champlain. To perform the project, I analyzed soil samples, analyzed water samples, surveyed the field, and also created flow diagrams for the ground water.
My name is Anne Burnham and I am a senior at Saint Michael’s College, where I am a Biology and Environmental Studies double major. This is my second year with Streams in the macroinvertebrate lab working under Declan McCabe. This summer I will be measuring standardized effect size in a data set that I compiled in my experiment Trophic Cascades in Artificial Ponds last summer. Outside of Streams, I enjoy running, hiking, skiing, traveling and reading. After graduation, I hope to travel and earn my master’s degree in Environmental Management and Science.
My name is Eunice Chun and I am an Environmental Studies major with a concentration in Policy and Development at the University of Vermont. I am working with Chris Koliba in the CDAE department at UVM as part of the Question 3 research team. My work consists of looking at the social and political contexts of the history of Lake Champlain's water quality. My individual project looks at the way various issues in Lake Champlain have come to be defined over time, and thus shaped what kind of official response followed.
My name is Alli Compagna and I'm an Integrated Environmental Science Major at Johnson State College. I work in the Johnson State College Stream Water Quality and E. Coli lab with Dr. Bob Genter. This summer and into the fall I will be researching riparian buffer zones along the nineteen stream sites our group is sampling. This study will look into what standards should be set for riparian buffer widths, if the streams we're researching are meeting this standard, and what changes need to be made to ensure water quality in the streams is bettered and/or maintained.
My name is John Dawkins and I am attending Johnson State College, studying Integrated Environmental Science. I am interning at Johnson State College in the Streams and Environmental Toxicology Lab. My independent project compares water quality data from stream site downstream of a farm which has had Vermont Dept of Agriculture nutrient management plan applied. The comparison will look at water quality for the years before and after nutrient management plan was applied. My favorite sandwich is cheese.
My name is Corynne Dedeo. I am a junior at Saint Michael's College majoring in Chemistry. This summer I have been working at the Johnson State College lab working with Dr Bob Genter.
My name is Nick Dragone and I am a rising junior at Middlebury College majoring in Biology. This summer I have had the opportunity to work with Professor Sallie Sheldon at Middlebury College studying the response and recovery of stream macroinvertebrate communities to Tropical Storm Irene. Along with our main project, I am studying the colonization of submerged leaf microhabitats by different macroinvertebrate feeding guilds. I am also working on a more visual macroinvertebrate identification key for use in future stream research at Middlebury College.
My name is Courtney Dyche. I am pursuing a bachelor’s of science in ecological agriculture at UVM, as well as minors in chemistry and soil science. I am working with Don Ross in the soil science lab at UVM, studying stream bank erosion and nutrient runoff in the Missisquoi River watershed.
My name is Ashley Fortin and I am currently studying Atmospheric Science with a minor in Physics at Lyndon State College in Lyndonvile,VT. As an intern I work at Johnson State College. During my internship I have been studying the climates of Johnson, Morrisville and Burlington, Vermont. I have been doing this by looking at all of the gathered weather data recorded at weather stations located in each town respectively. I have been taking note of weather events such as large precipitation events which may have altered the climate of these areas for periods of time following the weather events. I have also been studying any differences between the three towns to take note of how the locations of each town may create a completely separate climate from the other towns. It will give evidence of how even over just a 30 mile expanse climates can vary greatly.
My name is Kristen Friedel and I am an upcoming junior at Green Mountain College majoring in Environmental Studies with concentrations in public policy and the natural sciences. I currently work from Morrill Hall under the direction of Chris Koliba and Jessica Ricketson. My research this summer focuses on the impact that scientific reports have upon the legislation passed to improve the quality of Lake Champlain.
I am Adam Heckle, born and raised in Upstate NY. I moved to Vermont four years ago after falling in love with the Long Trail on excursions from Rochester NY. Being vegetarian for 20 years and an avid hiker for 10, I have learned the value of self-sufficiency but realize education is a true key to success. My dedicated hobbies include bicycling, brewing beer, baking bread, reading books, traveling, and wildlife ecology. Arts that I practice also include percussion, film and digital photography, drawing, painting, poetry, and carpentry.
Currently I am finishing up my Associates Degree in Environmental Science: Natural Resources, and plan to finish my bachelors in the same field at UVM. My 2012’ summer internship at St. Michaels College has been a genuine learning experience. Working with Prof McCabe and the rest of the crew in the macroinvertebrate lab has opened up many doors for future opportunities. I would encourage anyone who is going to college to apply for internships within their field of interests.
My name is Carolyn Herkenham and I am a rising senior at the University of Vermont. I am studying Natural Resources in the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources. This summer, I am working in the Water Quality lab at Saint Michael's College with Katie Chang. For my independent project, I am focusing on comparing the sampling methodologies of hand grab samples to ISCO grab samples. The overall results will be incorporated into the Quality Control Report for the ISCO portable samplers and Research on Adaptation to Climate Change program.
My name is Tatiyanna Hughes and I am from Carolina, Puerto Rico. I am currently studying biomathematics at the Universidad Metropolitana. This summer I am working in the biology lab with my mentor Declan McCabe. Working in the streams, collecting bugs, and learning new techniques has been a nice experience as for this being my first internship.
My name is Frances Iannucci and I am a sophomore studying Environmental Science at the University of Vermont. This summer I’m working in the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory at UVM, with a focus on lake ecology in Missisquoi Bay, Lake Champlain. My project explores the potential effects of harmful cyanobacterial blooms on aquatic food webs through feeding experiments and fatty acid analysis of white perch.
My name is Lindsay Jordan. I am a senior, majoring in Geography at the University of Vermont. This summer, I am interning with Professor Beverley Wemple in the GIS lab at UVM, looking at the stream channel change of the Mad River over the last century.
Hi, I'm Chris Lavallee and I am a senior at Saint Michael's College where I am double-majoring in Environmental Studies and Sociology. My internship is at UVM where I am working on question three. We are working to create a model of the social aspects of the Lake Champlain Basin's pollution and pollution clean-up efforts by looking at past and present policies, actors, events. My focus is on industry and economic development and its impacts on Lake Champlain's water quality.
My name is Dachelle London. I am preparing to begin my final semester as a Political Science major at Saint Michael's College. I am currently interning at UVM under the guidance of Chris Koliba on RACC's Question 3, which seeks to understand how adaptive management interventions can be designed, valued, and implemented in the multi-jurisdictional Lake Champlain Basin. For my project I have been gathering and looking at Regional and Town plans in search of ways water quality and the concern for water quality are addressed in these documents particularly in the regions and towns of the Missisquoi and Winooski Basins.
My name is Haleigh Marshall and I am a Geoscience major at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. I am working in the Environmental and Civil Engineering department at UVM this summer. We are trying to determine how groundwater and its movement through agricultural fields affects the total phosphorus load in Lake Champlain by studying the levels of dissolved and total phosphorus in soils and groundwater samples.
My name is Brittany McCarthy and I am studying Integrated Environmental Science with a minor in Mathematics at Johnson State College. This summer I am working at Johnson State College in the Bentley lab 311. During my internship I have been working with climate data from the Morrisville Airport weather station, Johnson State College weather station, and the Burlington Airport weather station from 2000-2010. In all this data I have been looking for any large events of precipitation and other weather situations, along with comparing the data between the stations, and looking for any trends.
My name is Andrea Mejia. I'm majoring in Biomathematics with a minor in Cellular Molecular Biology and Chemistry at the Universidad Metropolitana of Puerto Rico. This summer I've been working in the Watershed Ecology department at University of Vermont under the wing of Dr. Don Ross. My research centers on soluble Phosphorus levels on soils adjacent to the Missisquoi River network. The general project has been about measuring those soils for Nitrates, Phosphorus and Ammonium focusing on nutrient runoff and bank erosion. To complete the project we had to make soil maps, take lots of samples in the field and run a vast variety of tests in the soil science Lab.
I'm Abbie Murphy, I am going to be a junior at Johnson State College. This is my second summer working with Bob Genter in his streams lab working with E.coli and water sampling. For my independent project I plan on furthering my project from last summer with looking at habitat assessments and predicting what types of E. coli might be present.
My name is Elizabeth Olliver. I'm a rising senior, majoring in geology at the University of Vermont. For my EPSCoR internship I'm working with Professor Beverley Wemple in the GIS lab at the Univeristy of Vermont. The focus of our work over the course of this summer is been studying the stream channel change of the Mad River over the last century.
I am Ismael Orengo Sanchez, an undergraduate from Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico. My mayor is General Biology and during the summer I am working in the Macroinvertebrate Lab whit a great team. At lab I am working with the effect of channelization on aquatic insects. Moreover, I am trying to determine the ecological effect of the channelization through statistical calculations that are accurate but not well known by the scientific environment.
My name is Jared Peick and I am a senior Biology major at Saint Michael's College. This summer I am working in the macroinvertebrate lab at St. Mike's. My independent project will focus on how sediment profile affects the macroinvertebrate community in a stream. Specifically, I will be testing to see if sediment mixtures that represent urban and forested streams have any impact on macroinvertebrate species richness and abundance. In my free time I enjoy sports, traveling, playing drums and guitar, as well as hiking and skiing.
My name is Courtney Pinto and I am a sophomore at Saint Michael’s College, majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. I am currently working as an intern in the Water Quality Laboratory based at Saint Michael’s College, testing water samples from streams in the Missisquoi and Winooski watersheds for total suspended solids (TSS), high levels of which are an indicator of poor water quality. In addition to contributing to the larger RACC research effort, I am also working on an independent research project with fellow water quality intern Liz Bennett, examining the differences in TSS levels of urban and agricultural streams at both baseline levels and post-storm events.
My name is Rebecca Rickert and I am majoring in Environmental Science with a concentration in Conservation Biology at Lyndon State College. I’m working in the Streams and Toxicology lab at Johnson State College on a comparative study between paved and unpaved roads on the amount of nutrient runoff into streams after storm events.
My name is Hannah Rickner and I am a junior at the University of Vermont with a major in biology. I am interning at UVM's Rubenstein Lab, with a research focus on macroinvertebrate communities and their effect on lake ecology.
My name is Lorianny Rivera Mendoza, and I am from Puerto Rico. I am a sophomore student in an Environmental Science Major at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. This summer I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Donald Ross at the Soil Science Laboratory at the University of Vermont. My research is focused on the comparison of how nitrate levels change with depth and transects from corn to stream bank in the soil near the Missiquoi River.
My name is Beth Rutila and I am a senior environmental science major at the University of Vermont. I am interning at the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory and I’m interested in macrophyte communities in the lake and their effects on sediment biogeochemistry.
My name is Henry Schmid and I am a senior at the University of Vermont. I am a geology major with a minor in geography. I am currently conducting research in the Mad River Valley to examine sediment runoff into streams from dirt roads, and the amount of phosphorous being transported in the sediment. I have been collecting sediment samples in the field, and analyzing the samples in the UVM plant and soil science lab.
My name is Melissa Shapiro and I am a Human Ecology (Joint Environmental Studies-Sociology/Anthropology) Major at Middlebury College, Class of 2013. I am working as an intern in Chris Koliba's Question 3, UVM-based lab. My independent project explores the way in which the media has constructed a narrative for the Lake Champlain Basin through coverage of specific focusing events and subsequent public concerns.
My name is Bronson Shonk. I am an Environmental Science major with a focus in Analysis and Assessment and a minor in Studio Art at UVM. I am working in the Geography and Aiken GIS labs under Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux of the Geography department at UVM. We are studying the heavy rainfall events in New England on a temporal and spatial scale. My research involves the use of a variety of statistical and spatial techniques using Excel, SPSS, ArcMap and ENVI.
My name is Anna Tadio and I am a senior studying Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. I work at UVM doing research on all of the various actors, which include nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies that have an effect on Lake Champlain. I am currently compiling a spreadsheet which will include links to each actor, and I am creating a brochure on how citizens can advocate for water quality in the lake.
My name is Steven Treistman and I am a junior studying atmospheric science at Lyndon State College. I conduct climate research at the University of Vermont in the geography department under the guidance of state climatologist Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux. My research entails retrieving radar imagery and other types of meteorological data in order to assess variations in precipitation for the Tropical Storm Irene event. With the use of background knowledge in the field and the application of statistical analysis, I am determining trends in rainfall distribution and attributing these to physical processes in the atmosphere.
My name is Emily Wei and I am a Geology major at Middlebury College. I am working in the Manley Lake Studies Lab at Middlebury College this summer. I'm looking at circulation dynamics in Missisquoi Bay using in-situ Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs), Laser In Situ Scattering and Transmissometry, and water level measurements.